Bosox Go From Bozos to Boffo : Mike Downey

So, here come the Red Sox. Can they do it? Can they get away from Detroit? Can they stay in front of the Yankees? Is this the year Boston finally takes the World Series? Is Bill Buckner bow-legged?

The Boston club coming into Anaheim this week bears little resemblance to the team that came here last. These guys really do look as though they could go the distance. They look every bit as good as the Boston club that came to Anaheim in October, 1986.

The Red Sox of a couple of months ago were every bit as impressive as the Texas Rangers. The Bosox were Bozos. They were bound for sixth place, and the only reason they weren’t bound for seventh place was because the Baltimore Orioles refused repeated invitations to go out of business.

We hardly recognize the Red Sox now, though.

They have an MVP candidate, Mike Greenwell, who leads the major leagues in runs batted in and has become just about the hottest young hitter there is, although he is a guy you couldn’t pick out of a crowd unless his name was stitched on his shirt.

They also have a Cy Young Award candidate, only it’s not Roger Clemens. RoboPitcher has been hurting lately, so Bruce Hurst has stepped in to become the ace of the staff. Hurst and Minnesota’s Frank Viola are now considered the favorites for the Cy Young Award, but why Dennis Eckersley should be penalized for being a relief pitcher is beyond me.

Anyway, that’s not all the new, improved Red Sox have these days.

They have a reborn Wade Boggs, who, ever since the Margo Adams case got tossed out of court, has been steadily raising his batting average to Boggsian heights. Adams, the Costa Mesa woman with whom Boggs had an adulterous relationship, has refiled her suit and wants $12 million from Boggsy.

The Red Sox have improved in other ways, too. Larry Parrish, not so long ago, was languishing with the aforementioned Rangers and had gotten off to such a crummy start that every Sunday morning, when the papers published the batting averages of everybody in baseball, the only way Parrish was leading the league is when you held your paper upside down. He was definitely headed for Esquire magazine’s Dubious Achievement award.

Today, Parrish is a valuable member of the Boston roster, and he has soaped and showered away all residue of Texas.

Then there is Jim Rice. Lovable lug Jim Rice. Marv Albert’s favorite interview. The guy no manager dares replace with a pinch-hitter, since Rice has been known to yank the manager back into the dugout like an angler with a reel. Rice, too, seems replenished. He gets some clutch hits, and, you may not believe this, he occasionally comes to bat with a man on first base and does not hit into a double play. No, really.

The biggest and best change of all with the Boston Red Sox has been the managerial adjustment that brought Joe Morgan into prominence. Morgan came along at exactly the right time. He won so many games his first couple of weeks, we wondered if he was bribing the umpires. The guy could do no wrong. He was making miracles. He could have turned Oil Can Boyd into water.

With renewed confidence, the Red Sox started winning at Fenway Park. And winning. And winning. No matter who they played, no matter how many runs they fell behind, the Bosox kept coming back and winning every game they played at Fenway. If the Dodgers could play at home the way the Red Sox have, they would have clinched the National League West by about Aug. 1.

We did not believe in the Red Sox when they first began creeping toward the division leaders, but suddenly we do. We are convinced that they are going to win the American League East. The Tigers are fading fast. The Yankees are toast. This thing is Boston’s to win.

Lee Smith is getting stronger instead of weaker, because he hasn’t been playing afternoon baseball all summer. Marty Barrett is the league’s most underrated infielder. These kid outfielders, Ellis Burks and Todd Benzinger, are hitting fools. Boggs looks like the Boggs of old, and Greenwell looks like Boggs with power. As for Dwight Evans, well, he ain’t exactly chopped liver.

We think Boston is on its way, playoff bound, ready to invite Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire into Fenway to aim at the Citgo sign beyond the wall. The Red Sox are ripe. This is the year. Those of you who follow the Red Sox, who love them, who bleed for them, ye of little faith, brace yourselves. Boston’s time is finally here.

Too bad the Dodgers will have to whip them in the World Series.

Oh, well. At least when we get to Boston, the fans will bechanting: “Beat L.A.!” Be like old times.